NEW YORK — Gloria Estefan has revealed that, at the age of 9, she was sexually abused by someone her mother trusted.
The Cuban-American superstar spoke for the first time publicly about the abuse and its effects on her during an episode of the Facebook Watch show "Red Table Talk: The Estefans" on Thursday.
"He was family, but not close family," the Cuban-born singer, who moved to Miami with her family when she was a toddler, said. "He was in a position of power because my mother had put me in his music school and he immediately started telling her how talented I was and how I needed special attention, and she felt lucky that he was focusing this kind of attention on me."
Estefan spoke about the pain she experienced and how, after telling her mother about it, they were discouraged by police from pursuing a case.
Clare Crawley, the first Latina "Bachelorette," visited the show and spoke about being abused by a priest when she was young.
Sitting at the round red table with her co-hosts -- daughter Emily Estefan and niece Lili Estefan -- Estefan opened by saying that "93% of abused children know and trust their abusers, and I know this, because I was one of them."
"You've waited for this moment a long time," her niece told her.
"I have," Estefan replied.
The three held hands with teary eyes.